


Lehavot

by DoctorQui



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Galo is Jewish-Japanese and you can't stop me, Hanukkah, M/M, Minor Angst, Post-Canon, Self-Indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:47:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21976090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorQui/pseuds/DoctorQui
Summary: It's a very special time of year for Galo, and Lio takes an interest in the new traditions.Or: Galo doesn't start fires, with eight notable exceptions.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 21
Kudos: 92





	Lehavot

**Author's Note:**

> I legit just thought this up before drifting off to sleep one night and I needed to write it so have some Hanukkah schmuff. It's cheesy but I need more jewish fics in my life okay. Hanukkah Sameach to all my fellow jews out there (and the goyim too <3)

Galo didn’t start fires. That was what he said, at least--the one notable exception being the time he had saved Lio’s life, and even then he’d freaked out about it afterwards. So it was understandably a shock when Lio came home to his and Galo’s shared apartment to see the man himself standing over a candelabra, arranging blue-striped candles with a small smile on his face.

“Lio!” He shouted enthusiastically, rushing up to his boyfriend with a dopey grin on his face. “You’re just in time, it’s almost sundown.”

Lio raised an eyebrow quizzically and looked Galo up and down. He was wearing a shirt (for once) along with some sort of embroidered shawl he’d never seen before and a small circular cap that logically should not have been staying on his head. It was all extremely strange, even for Galo. “That is the time of day, yes. Why does that matter, though? And what are you going to do with those candles?”

Galo blinked, momentarily stunned. “Huh? What do you mean? I’m gonna light ‘em, of course!”

“Galo….” Lio’s eyebrows furrowed. “You don’t light fires. You fight them.” 

A small blush jumped to Galo’s cheeks then and he rubbed the back of his neck with a light chuckle. “Oh, yeah, usually. But it’s a special occasion! It doesn’t count! Lighting the menorah isn’t like lighting a fire, it’s like lighting a light, you know? It’s the festival of  _ lights,  _ Lio, not the festival of fire.” 

“You’ve lost me.” 

“Hanukkah!” Galo threw his arms up with a shout. “It’s Hanukkah Lio, c’mon! What, have you never heard of it?”

Lio brought a hand to his chin and thought for a moment. He’d heard of Hanukkah before, of course, though mostly in passing. Some of the Burnish had been Jewish, after all, and he’d seen more than a few makeshift stars of David, but it wasn’t something he had necessarily learned too much about. When each day was a trial to survive, it was kind of difficult to focus on religion, let alone find time for any sort of rituals. 

“I have,” he finally responded, head tilting at a considering angle. “Not enough to know anything significant about it though. I know it’s eight days long and involves oil?”

“That’s the miracle!” Galo grinned brightly, swinging forward on the balls of his feet. “So basically like, a  _ super  _ long time ago, there were these guys, right, these warriors. And they went to battle these other guys, and they won, but then they had to light these candles, but they only had one jug of pure oil. They could make more oil, but it wouldn’t be pure ‘cause they just went into battle, y’know, so they had to wait seven days ‘til they were pure again. So they were like ‘oh no we only have one day of oil what do we do’ but then the oil lasted all  _ eight  _ days and it was like, a super huge deal, so now we light candles for eight days each year and eat fried foods and stuff and celebrate!”

Even through Galo’s rambling, Lio got the gist of the story. He could appreciate a holiday about fires lasting longer than they were meant to--that was basically what his life had been as part of Mad Burnish. A flame too determined to be snuffed, a beacon of resistance. He looked up at Galo, lips toying on a smirk, and crossed his arms. 

“So you light eight small fires every year, and yet you got mad at me for making you light  _ one  _ to save my life?”

Galo sputtered, immediately put out by Lio’s words. “I-It’s different, I’m telling you! They’re lights, not fires, and there’s  _ nine  _ of them, and I wasn’t  _ mad  _ I just wanted you to take responsibility because it was a big deal you know and--”

Lio shut him up by grabbing the edges of the shawl and tugging Galo down into a soft, sweet kiss. The way Galo’s eyes widened the slightest bit before he melted into the kiss was always the cutest damn thing. Lio backed up after a moment and leaned their foreheads together with a fond huff. “I know. I’m just teasing. Show me more.” 

Galo nodded eagerly and grabbed Lio’s hand to lead him over to the table where the candelabra--the menorah, he’d called it--was set up on top of a sheet of tin foil. It was a simple thing, gleaming silver with nine thin symmetric slots to hold the candles. Galo explained that the one in the middle was called a shamash and that it was used to light the other eight, and that there were special prayers to be recited before each lighting. The tin foil was there to catch the candle wax dripping so that it didn’t ruin the table. Galo glanced out the window to see dusk fading beyond the horizon, oranges and yellows turning into darker blues and purples, and quickly scrambled to the kitchen to find a lighter. As he returned with it he paused momentarily before offering it out to Lio. 

“Lio Fotia, would you like to light the first candles? I figure you haven’t gotten to scratch the itch in awhile. I’ll do the singing if you do the lighting?” He chuckled, slightly nervous once more. 

Lio felt warmth blossom in his chest at the gesture. “I’d be honored, Galo Thymos.” 

They gathered closer around the table and Galo began chanting, tone low and melodic. Lio didn’t understand the words, but the prayers were short and sweet. It helped that they sounded beautiful coming from Galo, harsh syllables warmed by his gravelly voice. Once the candles were lit Galo clapped his hands together sharply. 

“Great! Now, it’s time for food!”

It turned out that the traditions didn’t end with lighting the candles. There was a whole slew of special foods Galo insisted on making, including a matzoh ball soup, fried potato pancakes called latkes, and a beef brisket. Lio didn’t know how to make any of these, but helped out where he could--mostly peeling potatoes for the latkes and checking on the brisket. His favorite, though, was making the matzoh balls. Before they dropped them in the broth, he and Galo had to shape them by hand from the matzoh meal, which of course ended up devolving into an imprompu food fight. Galo surrendered before they could waste too much food, but Lio noticed a small piece of meal stuck to blue spikes for the rest of the night, which he counted as a victory. 

After they topped the latkes with applesauce and sour cream and ate their fill, Galo brought out what he called a dreidel. It was a wooden top with four sides, each labeled with a character. Galo explained their meaning and how the game worked; basically, you gambled with chocolate coins called gelt and spun the top to see who won. 

“Isn’t that just pure luck?” Lio asked, leaning his cheek on a hand. 

“Kinda. It’s fun though! Just watch.”

Galo proceeded to win twenty-five out of the next thirty-something rounds of dreidel they played, boasting all the whilel. Eventually Lio declared the game rigged and gave up, slumping back in his seat as Galo raked in the gelt like a professional poker player would rake in his chips. He couldn’t help but smile at the sight--and steal a coin or two while Galo wasn’t looking, of course. His boyfriend popped the gold foil off of one and began chewing for all of one second before he made a noise like he’d remembered something and stood suddenly. 

“I almost forgot the sufganiyah! Wait here a sec, Lio, I’ll be right back.”

Lio had no idea what a sufganiyah was, but he was content to relax by the menorah while Galo busied himself in the kitchen preparing it. He let out a sigh and planted his elbows on the table, cradling his chin in his palms as he stared at the flickering flames in front of him. 

It had been difficult the first few months after the Promare left. It still was, if Lio was entirely honest. That base urge to reach out and touch the flames was always there, calling at the back of his mind, but now that he had to silence it? To realize that the flames that once protected him would do nothing but hurt from now on? The word “adjustment” didn’t even begin to cover it. He hadn’t felt useless in the aftermath--far from it, with all the work he threw himself into getting the Burnish re-settled--but there was something distinctly  _ lacking.  _ The trials and tribulations of starting a proper relationship with Galo that wasn’t based upon mind-melding in a giant mecha had certainly helped with that, but Galo’s firefighter soul could only warm him so much. It was a different kind of heat, and a welcome one, but it wasn’t like the Promare. It never would be. 

Lio didn’t even notice that Galo had returned from the kitchen until he placed a hand on his shoulder and startled him into looking up. He looked soft, candlelight reflected off the blue of his hair and turning his eyes to a glowing green. Lio must have been staring pretty hard into the flames because he caught the worried edges of Galo’s smile that always betrayed his concern. 

“You good there, Big Boss?” Galo ventured, giving Lio’s shoulder a squeeze. 

Lio smiled back and lifted a hand to lay on top of Galo’s. “Yeah. I’m fine.” 

And just like that Galo’s thousand-watt smile was back. “Good to hear. Now, it’s dessert time!” With a flourish, Galo brought a plate out from behind his back that had what looked like powdered donuts on it. “Sufganiyot! An absolute must in Hanukkah tradition. C’mon, try one!”

Lio rolled his eyes fondly and reached forward to grab one. He wasn’t too big on sweets, but he could tell these were special, and that Galo was more than excited to see his reaction to tasting one. He bit into the fried dough and was pleasantly surprised at the fruity taste on his tongue. The donut was filled with some sort of apricot jam, perfectly complimenting the dry bready texture of the outside. 

“So? It’s good, right? It’s fantastic?” 

Lio could practically see Galo’s metaphorical tail wagging. “Pretty good, yeah.”

“I knew you’d like them!” Galo laughed heartily and sat down next to Lio again, reaching for his own sufganiyah. They sat like that for much of the rest of the night as they polished off the donuts and just talked. There were a few more games of dreidel which Lio actually managed to win, though he still protested that it was a weighted top. Lio asked about the cap and shawl Galo was wearing, which he explained as traditional clothing called a kippah and talit respectively. Apparently Aina had given them to him as a present some months back, and he cherished them dearly. 

Eventually, the candles in the menorah burned low and Galo put them out, though he and Lio stayed at the table awhile longer until their sentences were more yawns than words. They quickly got ready for bed and flopped onto the mattress, Galo immediately gathering Lio up in his arms to cuddle. Bellies full and bodies warm, they began to drift, but there was a nagging question left nipping at the edge of Lio’s mind.

“Hey Galo?” He whispered into the dark, nose pressing against his boyfriend’s chest. Galo hummed and Lio continued, “How did you know all this? I mean, who taught you all these traditions?”

It was quiet for a long moment, then. Just as Lio was beginning to panic that he’d asked something wrong Galo spoke, though his voice was hushed and soft in the dusk of their shared bed. 

“My Mom did. It’s one of the few things I remember from when I was a kid, celebrating Hanukkah with my parents. Kray always said it was kind of a stupid celebration, lighting fires. Kinda implied that’s what caused the blaze from way back then. I guess it’s not surprising, knowing what I know now, but I was always a little hesitant to celebrate because of it. This is the first year I’ve really gone all out in a long time.” 

Lio felt his grip tighten around Galo’s waist. Of course. It seemed like every time he thought he knew it all, Foresight had  _ another  _ addition to the pile of shitty horrible things he’d done or said. Lio shook thoughts of the man from his head--this wasn’t the time to think about him. Tonight was Galo’s. 

“He was wrong about a lot of things. We can just add this to the list,” Lio spoke, voice rough with barely restrained anger. “Tonight was wonderful, Galo. And the next seven nights will be just as great. Your few memories of your family...they’re something to be celebrated. And you know I’m always willing to help with that.” 

It was silent for another moment, then, before Lio felt lips press to the top of his head and a barely audible  _ thank you  _ whispered into his hair. He snuggled closer into Galo’s chest and sighed in relief. 

The festival of lights was looking bright after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Please feel free to leave comments, as they make my day every time. This work is unbeta'd (for once) so excuse any spelling or grammar errors. I have another galolio fic in the works, though that one is gonna be Long, so stay tuned for that. 
> 
> Happy Holidays one and all!


End file.
